Another incredible Championship campaign is drawing to a close, and at the time of writing all 24 teams having completed 45 games. The final fixtures will kick off simultaneously at 12.30 on Saturday the 3rd of May at 12.30 pm. With one game still to play, there are some important issues still to be decided.
Five teams are battling it out for the final two play-off places and that looks to be an exciting subplot on the final day of the season. Lower down the table, Cardiff are relegated, whilst Plymouth are mathematically still capable of surviving but realistically are down – unless they can reverse a 14-goal goal differential. However, above those two, just two points separate Hull, currently 22nd on 48 points, and Stoke, 18th on 50 points.
At the other end of the table, the issue of automatic promotion is already settled. Leeds United and Burnley finally outlasted Sheffield United, who rather collapsed with a run of four defeats in five games. Perhaps counterintuitively, the biggest prize in the Championship is not the title itself, but simply promotion to the Premier League. That said, with that now decided, both Leeds and Burnley will be keen to earn silverware and claim the second-tier championship.
For the West Yorkshire side, this would be a fifth such success, whilst their Lancashire rivals are also seeking to win the title for the fifth time. Both have played one match since they secured their place back in the top flight next term and both shrugged off any post-celebration hangovers they may have had in real style. With the pressure off, Burnley’s heroes went out and won their last match 5-0, away at QPR. Two days later and playing with the same sense of joy and freedom, Leeds were superb as they beat fifth-placed Bristol City 4-0 at Elland Road. They could easily have scored six.
100 Points Might not be Enough to Seal Title
🎶 Champions again, ole ole! 🎶 pic.twitter.com/iKGReVfkD0
— Leeds United (@LUFC) April 29, 2025
The title, as said, is not the be-all in the Championship but once promotion is secured, it is certainly a very tasty cherry to place atop the cake. After their two emphatic wins last time out, both Leeds and the Clarets moved to 97 points from 45 games. That is already a record haul for Leeds, and the way both teams are playing it seems likely that they will both reach three figures for the season by winning their final games.
With Daniel Farke’s Whites boasting an incredible goal difference of +64, 13 better than Burnley, it is they that would win the Championship in the event that both clubs do win. Incredibly that means that Scott Parker’s men could amass 100 points and still not win the title, which really shows just how good both of these teams have been in 2024/25.
Final Fixtures
WE ARE BACK! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/RayO23ctGE
— Burnley FC (P) (@BurnleyOfficial) April 21, 2025
On the final day of the regular season Leeds make the long journey to the south coast to face Plymouth. The Pilgrims need a miracle to survive and getting a win, let alone overturning their huge goal-difference deficit, would be a huge achievement against the table toppers.
Farke’s men won the reverse fixture 3-0 at Elland Road in November and given the mood they are in right now it is easy to see them repeating the punishment. If they do, or indeed if they simply win by any score, the title will be theirs, unless Burnley can register a record-setting win in their game.
Realistically Parker’s men know they have to rely on Leeds slipping up if they are to grab the trophy this year. They host Millwall in their final game of the campaign and the Lions will certainly be up for the fight, given they are currently seventh, behind Coventry on goal difference in the race for the final spot in the play-offs.
Burnley will be keen to get the win too though, not least because Millwall beat them 1-0 in London back at the start of November. Parker’s side have lost just twice all season, with Millwall and Sunderland the only clubs to have taken three points from them. It should be an interesting fixture, with both going all out for the win, yet knowing that there is a strong chance that even that won’t be enough for them to achieve their aims.
100 Points at the Double
Leeds are priced at odds of just 3/10 to win at Plymouth, whilst Burnley are also odds-on favourites, available at 4/6, to beat Millwall. As such, as far as the bookies are concerned, there is every chance that both clubs will end the 2024/25 season locked together on 100 points.
It is unusual for one Championship club to reach three figures and never before have two reached that incredible landmark. Last season it was felt that there were three very strong clubs, with Leicester, Ipswich and Leeds mustering 97, 96 and 90 points respectively. 12 months earlier Burnley themselves racked up a massive 101 points, but Sheffield United were well back on 91.
Looking Back
In 2021/22 Fulham topped the table with “just” 90 points, and if we look back over the past 20 or 30 years, it becomes clear just how impressively both Leeds and Burnley have performed this season. 100 points is not the most a Championship side has secured, with Burnley getting 101 as said, whilst Reading’s team of 2005/06 hold the record with a staggering 106 points.
Almost 20 years ago the Royals won 31 of their 46 games and lost just twice to win the title at a canter, by some 16 points. Sheffield United got 90 in second, so if Leeds and Burnley both win on Saturday they will easily surpass that 196-point total. Other points centurions include Sunderland, who previously set the record in the second tier, when it was known as the First Division back in 1999.
The Black Cats earned 105 points in their successful 1998/99 campaign, well ahead of Bradford (87 points) in second. More recently Newcastle United also made it to three figures, amassing 102 points as they won the 2009/10 Championship. West Brom also went straight up with 91 points in second. Leicester City matched that 102-point mark in 2013/14 when they beat Burnley (93 points) to the title.
The only other side to make it to 100+ points is Fulham, who – back in 2000/01 – matched Burnley’s 101 points from 2022/23. Under Jean Tigana the west London outfit won their first 11 games of the campaign and ended 10 clear of Blackburn in second.
So, if Leeds and Burnley deliver the expected results on the final day of the season we will see history made. It will be the first time two clubs in the second tier have hit 100 points, a maximum combined total for the top two, and, sadly for Burnley perhaps, the first time a side has failed to win the title despite mustering triple digits.